Soldiers cutting up the borderdrawing the salt of the kissOh man,look at that permanent bliss

Take a look at thesober mother poison rattleBatman’s gone missing againIt’s just a life of sin

Is there life on Mars?Is there life on Mars?

Sources and Method: This poem was inspired by David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” drawing on its rhythms for the song’s cadence. Lines from the poem were cut up from newspapers including Haaretz and the Guardian and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Emily McAvan is a Jewish Australian poet whose work sits at the intersection between sacred and profane.